Blocking mechanism for amusement game with multiple lifting pins

ABSTRACT

A blocking mechanism for a table-type amusement game, and a table-type amusement game equipped with a blocking mechanism. The blocking mechanism utilizes a series of blocking pins goes from a closed position, which blocks a playing piece from scoring to an upper open position, which permits the playing piece to score. The blocking mechanism may be manually or electrically operated. When the blocking mechanism is electrically operated, it may be activated by the insertion of a coin into a coin and/or bill acceptor of the type found on table-type amusement games.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No.13/165,020, filed Jun. 21, 2011, for Blocking Mechanism for AmusementGame. Application Ser. No. 13/165,020 is pending as of the filing dateof the present application.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to amusement games. More particularly, thepresent invention relates to table-type amusement games. Mostparticularly, the present invention relates to a blocking device whichwill prevent the table-type amusement game from being played without thepayment of the fee for playing the game.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

For as long as there have been amusement table games, there have beenefforts on the part of certain people who wish to use the amusement gametable to play the game without the payment of the required fee.

Previous solutions for this type of problem have either been relativelyexpensive, or easily defeated. For example, for shuffleboard type tablegames there is known in the art a mechanism that does not release theshuffleboard pucks to the player until the fee is deposited, and thendoes not return the puck to the player once the game is completed.Similarly, for bowling table-type games, a bowling ball will not bereleased to the player until the fee is deposited, and then after acertain number of frames, the ball will not be returned to the player.

Other blocking mechanisms for “shuffleboard-type” games are known, butmay be easily forced from their closed position to their open position,allowing the games to be played without the patrons paying.

For the above reasons, those skilled in the art continue to search for asimple and less expensive solution to the problems in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a novel and unique solution to theabove-mentioned problems in the art by providing an automatic blockingmechanism which prevents the playing piece of table-type amusementgames, such as tabletop bowling and tabletop shuffleboard, from beingplayed without payment of the requisite fee. A blocking means which isoperated upon depositing the fee into a coin and/or bill acceptor of atabletop amusement game, remains in its closed position before the feeis deposited, opens when the fee is deposited, and closes again afterthe game is completed, whether by a certain event occurring, such as theplaying of a certain number of innings, frames, etc., elapsing of acertain amount of time, or other events.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above, as well as other advantages of the present invention willbecome readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the followingdetailed description when considered in the light of the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, partially cut away, of a constructionembodying the present invention mounted on a shuffleboard type amusementgame immediately in front of the bumper bar, whereby the blocking pinsprevent the playing of the game when they are in the down position.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view taken from the underside of a constructionembodying the present invention and showing the blocking pins in theirraised position.

FIG. 2A is a bottom perspective view of a construction embodying thepresent invention showing the blocking pins in their lowered position.

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a construction embodying thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of one end of the constructionshown in FIG. 3, partially cut away.

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the other end of the construction shown inFIG. 3, partially cut away.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view, partially cut away, of the blockingmechanism. The blocking mechanism is shown in its down or closedposition. Due to spring pressure on the blocking pins, they are all in aposition close to the playing surface of the amusement game, blockingany playing piece from passing through. Any attempt to raise one or moreblocking pins leaves the other pins down, effectively blocking anyplaying pieces from passing through.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a blocking mechanism constructionembodying the present invention, generally designated the numeral 10,mounted on a conventional bumper type shuffleboard amusement table game12. The blocking mechanism 10 is mounted above the playing surface 14,immediately in front of the bumper 16. An electronic scoreboard 20, of atype well known in the art, is provided to keep score while the game isbeing played.

In a preferred embodiment, when the blocking mechanism 10 is in the downposition, the blocking pins 22 are in front of the shuffleboard bumper16, thus preventing the puck 18 from bouncing off the bumper 16, hencepreventing play. When the fee is paid to the coin and/or bill acceptor,the blocking pins 22 move to the up position, thus allowing play.

With reference to FIG. 2, the blocking pins 22 are shown in their raisedposition (open status). In the Open Status, the pins are retracted upinto the blocking mechanism 10, and are out of the way of the puck 18.

With reference to FIG. 2A, the blocking pins 22 are shown in theirlowered position (Closed Status). In the closed status, the pins arelowered and will interfere with the puck 18. Also shown is a first orleft-hand base portion 24 having a left-hand mounting plate 24A, and asecond or right-hand base portion 26 having a right-hand mounting plate26A. A cover 28 is also shown.

With reference to FIG. 3, there is shown an exploded view of theimproved blocking mechanism 10. The blocking pins 22 all rest on andprotrude through a plurality of pin openings 30 in a horizontal supportbar 32.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 6, it can be seen that shaft sleeves 31 areprovided above each pin opening 30 to help guide the blocking pins 22 upand down therein. The top of each blocking pin 22 has a reduced portion22A to which a spring mounting plate 34 is attached thereto. Each springmounting plate 34 has a pair of hooks 34A. A pair of springs 38 ismounted between the horizontal support bar 32 and the hooks 34A to makethe blocking pins 22 spring-loaded. The combination of the horizontalmounting bar 32, blocking pins 22, spring mounting plates 34 and springs38 comprise the blocking means of the present invention.

It can be seen that a blocking pin 22 may be forced up to try to push apuck 18 therethrough, but the other pins 22 would still be down and thepuck 18 would not be able to bounce off the bumper, thereby completelydefeating those who wish to play the game without paying the fee.Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, it can be seen how the horizontalsupport bar 32 is reciprocated by the lifting or reciprocating means 36with respect to the guide plate 44. A motor mounting plate 42 isprovided which is attached to the first or left-hand base member 24.Motor 48 is attached to the motor mounting plate 42. The motor shaft 48Aprotrudes through the shaft opening 46. There is fixedly mounted to themotor shaft 48A a driving gear 50. To the driving gear 50 is mounted afirst or left crankshaft 52, which has cam follower 54 mounted thereon.The cam follower 54 is rotatably mounted to the driving gear 50 and thegrooved portion 54A thereof is sized to fit into the oblong opening 56Ain the first or left pull plate 56.

As the driving gear rotates, the lifting shaft 58 will reciprocate in avertical direction lifting the horizontal support bar 32 away from theguide plate 44. A crossbar 60 connects the lifting shaft 58 to thehorizontal support bar 32.

The lifting shaft 58 is constrained to move in a vertical direction bythe shaft sleeve 59 (FIG. 3) which is mounted to shaft sleeve seat 61.Vertical motion is limited by the left pull plate 56 being physicallybelow the shaft sleeve seat 61 when the blocking mechanism 10 isassembled condition.

In order to provide for synchronized motion, so that the horizontalsupport bar 32 will raise and lower smoothly, a similar construction isprovided at the other end of the horizontal support bar 32. The drivinggear 50 drives a driven gear 62 which is fixedly attached to a shaft 64rotatably mounted in a bearing base 66. At the right-hand end or secondend of the blocking mechanism 10, the shaft 64 is rotatably mountedthrough a second bearing base 66A and has a second gear 68 fixedlymounted to the end thereof. There is a cam follower 70 rotatably mountedto the crankshaft 69 which moves in the oblong opening 70A of the secondor right hand lifting plate 72. Rotation of the shaft 64 causes thesecond or left-hand pull plate 72 to reciprocate up and down at the samespeed as the left hand pull plate 56. The second or left-hand pull plateis attached to the second or right-hand lifting shaft 74 which isattached by a crossbar 60A to the horizontal support bar 32.

To enable the position of the blocking pins to be determined, an upperphotosensor 76 and a lower photosensor 78 are provided. An activatingmember 80, which rises and lowers with the reciprocation of the secondor right-hand pull plate 72 will tell the photosensors (76, 78) wherethe position of the horizontal support bar 32 and thus, the blockingpins 22 are. The upper photosensor 76 and the lower photosensor 78 arecarried on a sensor bracket 83 which is mounted in the mechanism bymeans well-known in the art.

If desired, the blocking mechanism 10 of the present invention may beconverted into an autoclose blocking system by providing circuitry whichdetects when the power is on or off. If the power is turned off, or ifthe device is unplugged, the autoclose blocking system sends a signal tothe motor 48 to return the pins to their down position, thus, completelyprohibiting play. The power for this action is stored in the capacitors84 for the autoclose blocking system. These are mounted by a fixingplate 86 to the second or right-hand base member 26 (FIG. 3). It mayalso be mounted in other desired positions depending on the application.The electronics for such a system are carried by the printed circuitboard 82, and are well within the skill of those in the art.

An activation means 90, which may be such as a coin and/or billacceptor, will accept the players' money and start rotating the motor 48and drive gear 50. The photo sensors will allow the motor to run untilthe activating member 80 breaks the open space adjacent the upper photosensor, causing the motor to stop in the up position, where theshuffleboard puck may be played. After the occurrence of apre-determined event, the motor 48 will rotate the drive gear 50, movingboth ends of the horizontal support bar down. When the activating member80 breaks the open space adjacent the lower photo sensor, an electronicsignal causes the motor to stop in this position. The blocking pins 22are now in their lower position, preventing the pucks 18 from strikingagainst the bumper, thus preventing play.

While the present invention is illustrated in connection with ashuffleboard game, it is well within the scope of the present inventionthat it be used on the many types of amusement games which arecoin-operated, and have a playing surface.

By carefully investigating the problems present in the art concerningobtaining payment for amusement games, we have developed a unique andnovel invention which solves many problems in the art.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, the presentinvention has been described in what is considered to represent itspreferred embodiments. However, it should be noted that the inventioncan be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated anddescribed without departing from its spirit or scope.

What is claimed is:
 1. A blocking mechanism for a table-type amusementgame having a playing surface comprising: a) an activation means: b) ablocking means mounted above the playing surface of the table-topamusement game and moveable between a raised open condition wherein aplaying piece can pass under the blocking means, and a lowered closedcondition wherein a playing piece is blocked from passing under theblocking means; c) a lifting or reciprocating means connected to theblocking means which selectively reciprocates the blocking means betweenthe open condition and the closed condition upon operation of theactivation means.
 2. The device defined in claim 1, wherein the blockingmeans comprises a plurality of vertically oriented, spring-loaded pins.3. The device defined in claim 2, wherein the blocking means furthercomprises: a) a pin mounting bar having a plurality of spring-mountedpins; and b) a guide bar or plate to guide the spring-mounted pins in areciprocal, vertical motion.
 4. The device defined in claim 3, whereinsaid reciprocating means comprises: a) a right hand pull plate connectedto the right hand end of the guide plate, and b) a left hand pull plateconnected to the left hand end of the guide plate.
 5. The devicedescribed in claim 1, wherein the activation means is manual.
 6. Thedevice described in claim 1, wherein the activation means is electrical.7. The device described in claim 6, wherein the activation means is acoin and/or bill acceptor.
 8. A table-type amusement game comprising: a)a playing surface; b) a playing piece; c) a coin and/or bill acceptor;d) a blocking means mounted above playing surface of the table-typeamusement game and moveable between a raised open condition wherein aplaying piece can pass under the blocking means and a lowered closedcondition wherein a playing piece is blocked from passing under theblocking means; and e) a lifting means connected to the blocking meanswhich selectively reciprocates the blocking means between an opencondition and a closed condition upon operation of the activation means.9. The table-type amusement game described in claim 8, wherein thelifting means is operated electrically.
 10. The table-type amusementgame described in claim 8, wherein when the blocking means is in itsfirst position, the playing piece is blocked from scoring.
 11. Thetable-type amusement game described in claim 10, wherein when theblocking means is in its second position, the playing piece may score.12. The table-type amusement game described in claim 10, wherein thefirst position is the closed position.
 13. The table-type amusement gamedescribed in claim 11, wherein the second position is the open position.14. The table-type amusement game described in claim 8, wherein theplaying piece is a shuffleboard puck.
 15. The table-type amusement gamedescribed in claim 8, wherein the playing piece is a bowling ball. 16.The table-type amusement game described in claim 8, wherein the liftingmeans is operated electrically and is connected to the coin and/or billacceptor.
 17. The table-type amusement game described in claim 8,wherein the lifting means is operated mechanically.
 18. The devicedefined in claim 8, wherein the blocking means further comprises: a) aguide means to guide a plurality of spaced apart blocking pins in areciprocating, vertical motion; b) a pin-mounting bar having a pluralityof spring-mounted pins cooperating with the guide means to provide aplurality of vertically oriented pins for the guide means to guide; andc) reciprocating means to reciprocate said pin mounting bar, therebyreciprocating the pins in the guide means.
 19. The device defined inclaim 1, wherein the blocking means further comprises: a) a guide meansmounting a predetermined distance above the playing surface of thetable-type amusement game and having a plurality of openings therein toaccept a plurality of blocking pins; b) a pin-mounting bar having a likeplurality of openings; c) a plurality of spring-mounted blocking pinsmounted to said mounting bars and having the ends of the pins protrudingthrough the openings in said mounting bar and said guide means; and d)means to reciprocate said pin-mounting bar above said guide means,thereby causing the pins to reciprocate in the openings in said guidebar between a raised and a lowered position.